The Soul of A Warrior
by Silver-Shades-Of-Darkness
Summary: A/U fic... one new female saiya-jin, a Vegeta from another timeline and Vampires???? Read the story people. Maybe a lemon comming up. Yes I know there is Buffy in this story but it is still a DBZ A\U story(needed Buffy for Vampires) possible G/B pairing(G
1. The soul can be stolen, but only if the ...

Chapter One -- The Soul can be Stolen, but Only if the Body Goes Too  
  
It was a pleasant day in Sunnydale and for a little while Buffy could forget about the business of slaying and relax with her friends and watcher for a few hours. Usually she would have loved it, but today she was restless, she had a feeling something was going to happen. Something big. Willow and Oz were sitting together talking quietly. Xander and Cordelia, as per usual, were having an argument. "You are such a jerk Xander"  
"Well at least I don't wear a big sign on my head that says 'slut'"   
"I do not!"  
"Well you dress like it"  
Their feud was cut off as a large explosion shook the library; Buffy jumped up and ran out the door calling as she did so "I'm going to see what that was!" Giles took off his glasses and polished them.  
"Good Luck" he said in his dry clipped English way. "And be careful"  
"Thanks and I will"  
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"Ouch! Woman do you think you could have landed in a slightly less noisy way?" complained Prince Vegeta rubbing his head as the Z gang got shakily out of their seats.  
"Damare Vegetable Brains! I would have landed quietly if it wasn't for a certain baka who kept insisting that he could fly the ship and damaged the control panel!"   
"So? You should have made it stronger"  
"I wouldn't have to do that if someone would control their temper"  
"You can talk woman, you chuck temper tantrums all the time"  
"But I don't destroy everything around me like some muscle headed saiya-jin I know"  
"That's only because you are too weak to" The whole gang was pleased to hear the pairs verbal duel. Bulma had been the most hard hit by the destruction of their dimension, along with her parents, Yamcha, Tien, Chaio-tzu and all her other friends who didn't reach the ship in time. She hadn't even had the will to live for the first couple of weeks, only her bond with Prince Vegeta had kept her alive and sane.  
I wonder what this dimension is like? asked Vegeta  
I don't know Vegeta, I really don't know. At least it still exists like Vegeta, deep in Xiae's mind she hoped they could stay here, she was fed up with losing everything she cared for and hopping from dimension to dimension. Ever since their own dimension was destroyed by Khonsu, who had then followed Vegeta and her to the Z warrior's dimension one year ago. The tyrant was vanquished there by the Z warriors, Vegeta and herself- at the cost of that dimension, destroyed by Khonsu's death struggle. Fortunately, Bulma had been working on a Capsule ship at the time and was able to get most of the warriors into it while she and Vegeta opened a portal, escaping just in time. This would be the eleventh dimension they had visited; the others were one that Khonsu had passed through. Whirling expanses of dark and dust. Totally destroyed.  
Gohan was standing at his control station running a check on the planet they were on. The disembodied voice of the computer, in reply to his queries, answered "Air - breathable, gravity- 1 g, "   
"Well the air's fine," said Gohan   
"Well what are we waiting for then?" asked Trunks as he chased Goten around the gravity chamber.  
"There are many significant power levels here" said Piccolo with a frown "powerful, evil ones and one good"  
"Who is advancing rapidly" interjected Vegeta.  
"Let's go meet him then," said Goku. This was favoured by all, including Bulma and Prince Vegeta who had stopped fighting. Chichi pressed the button that opened the door and they all walked outside  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Buffy crept cautiously to wards the explosion site and hid behind a large pile of rocks. At the site, which was in the middle of a large park, was a huge crater. In the center of this was a huge spherical ship of some kind, with the words 'Capsule Corp.' on the side. It was at least 50 metres high and 100 metres around The half moon shone down and with her slayer senses she could see everything. Suddenly a hatch opened in the side of the ship and people began to walk out. First was a tall man dressed in orange with very wild looking black hair followed by a very short bald man, also dressed in orange, holding the hand of an icy looking blonde, then a black haired woman dressed in a strange looking purple dress. An aqua haired woman in a pair of short blue shorts and a white T-shirt beside a man whose unruly hair stuck straight up to a point and was dressed in a tight fitting black body suit, white shoes and gloves. Next were two boys, one with black hair and one with lavender hair. A tall youth walked out beside a man whose skin was green! Buffy rubbed her eyes, no he definitely was green. Following him was a girl dressed in baggy black pants and a dark sapphire singlet top, long red-copper hair and a sword in a shoulder scabbard along with a guy in black cargo pants and a green tee-shirt with black jacket and sword, but with short, normal, black hair. The last two both appeared to have thick brown belts.  
"Hello?" called the man who had left the ship first. "Anyone there?" Before Buffy could react, a pack of about 50 hunting vampires appeared out of the shadows and attacked the group. Buffy, seeing the group was totally outnumbered decided to lend a helping hand.  
"Ereshkigal" muttered the redheaded girl in disgust and then she called out louder "Grab a stick and stab them in the chest!"  
"Or remove their heads" added the guy with short hair, lopping the head of a vampire off as he spoke.  
"Or simply incinerate them" smirked the man with the troll hair, forming a ball of reddish energy in his hands and throwing it at the nearest vampire who turned into an undead torch for a few seconds before puffing into ashes. Within 2 minutes, all the vampires were dead.  
"Okay, who and what the hell are you?" asked Buffy . The tall man in the orange introduced himself and the others.  
"My name is Goku. This is my wife Chichi, sons Gohan and Goten, friend Krillin and his wife #18. Bulma Briefs, her husband Prince Vegeta and son Trunks. The green skinned man is Piccolo , Xiae Nightstorm and Vegeta Nightfalcon" Goku said with a big goofy grin on his face, pointing to each in turn.  
"And you are?" asked Bulma  
"Buffy, and you still haven't answered my question. Normal people don't shoot beams from their hands, have hair that looks like yours or have green skin"  
"Or have tails" interrupted Trunks, who ran behind Vegeta and pulled his tail. Vegeta grabbed Trunks by the neck and handed him to Bulma.  
"Yeah, and tails" said Buffy uneasily.  
"I will give you the cut and dried version otherwise we will be standing here all night" said Gohan and he quickly explained the whole story to Buffy. Buffy then asked if they would like to meet Giles. She didn't know why but she felt she could trust the group. Buffy trusted her gut feelings. They had saved both her life and the lives of her friends many times.  
Can we trust her? Goku silently asked Xiae and Vegeta, their telepathic powers being far stronger than his.  
Yes replied Vegeta after a few moments, she means us no harm so long as we mean no harm to her or her friends  
And she trusts us. She is following her instincts.continued Xiaeshe feels to we may be able to help her. Xiae added thoughtfully to Vegeta This place 'Sunnydale' is on a hellmouth. Looks as if we will not have any lack of fighting she smirked.  
Buffy led the group along the narrow path through the thick trees. Goten and Trunks would climb a tree and jump down. Racing each other to see who could do it the fastest. At the edge of the trees Buffy stopped.   
"Umm is there anyway we could disguise Piccolo? Most people around here have no idea of what goes on, and he would just scare them. No offence Piccolo."  
The Namek-jin smiled "None taken, I understand. Where does this Giles live? We could fly and then no one would be the wiser for our passing."  
"You can fly?"  
"Yes baka we can fly, can't you? Your power level is definitely high enough to. Oh I forgot, you're a woman, and women can't fight 'cause they are too weak. The only ki they have is to make their annoying voices louder" snapped Prince Vegeta.  
"Leave it Prince Vegetable Brains, it can wait until we meet this Giles person and tell him and Buffy here the long version of our story." growled Xiae, who was insulted intensely by his remark.  
"Or else what are you going to do, little girl?" replied the older saiya-jin, Prince Vegeta enjoyed taunting the warrioress almost as much as fighting or matching wits with Bulma.  
Xiae simply retorted coldly "You. Me. Dawn. Gravity Chamber 100x. 100 every minute. No super saiya-jin or blades. First to not get up loses"   
"I'll look forward to it"  
Vegeta ignored the pair while he asked Buffy if she would mind if Gohan was to carry her. Prince Vegeta deserved everything he was going to get.  
"Not at all" the slayer replied and Gohan picked her up. Goku grabbed Chichi and Prince Vegeta took Bulma into his arms. The group took off and flew over the top of the buildings. Buffy, after she got over the shock of being 100m in the air, directed Gohan to the library. The warriors landed gently on the grass and walked into the school, following Buffy. The group walked swiftly through the deserted hallways.  
"Giles?"  
"Ah, Buffy, you took longer than I thought. Run into trouble?" asked the tall watcher.  
"In a way, the explosion was a spaceship landing" replied Buffy, beckoning to the Z warriors who stepped into the library. "And these are the people from the spaceship. Goku and Chichi, their sons Gohan and Goten. Krillin and #18. Prince Vegeta and his wife Bulma and son Trunks. Piccolo, Xiae and Vegeta" indicating each in turn.  
"Very good but who are they?"  
"I had better explain" said Gohan who then told Buffy and Giles everything since Radditz had kidnapped him as a young boy up to them arriving in this dimension. Having told their story, Gohan asked Giles if he minded them returning to their ship as they would have to hide it before morning. Giles agreed the ship would have to be hidden and the warrior's flew off. Buffy left for home as her mother would start to worry  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Close by, in cave near the Hellmouth, an immense, pulsating, creature sat on a rock ledge. Its gaping maw opening to devour a screaming girl, slowly striping the flesh from her bones, savouring the taste and the agonised screams. Finally the girl died and it swallowed her remains.  
"More" ordered the pale quivering demon, "I am still hungry."  
"At once Great Lord Master Nick, your whim is our life. May you live forever" replied one of the many small green hooded fiends, dragging forward another skeletal captive. Once the demon finished the second wretch it spoke again  
"Set up the portal, our slayer is going to be blown away by this, as are those meddlers."  
"At once Great Lord Master Nick, your whim is our life. May you live forever" The Ninks drew a many-pointed star inside a triangle with the blood of a teenage boy, his arm slashed open and his body lashed to a rack, under which a black flamed fire burnt.   
Another Nink brought forward on a cushion 13 dolls, each looking like one of the Z warriors, Xiae, her Vegeta and Buffy. It placed them inside the star and started chanting. A maelstrom of wind blew in the center of the circle, accompanied by a shrieking howl. The figurines caught alight and vanished.  
Nick smiled "It has begun, hell shall rule here once more, the Mistress shall be pleased" the creature cackled insanely. "I'm bored now, entertain me."  
"At once Great Lord Master Nick, your whim is our life. May you live forever" replied the tallest Nink as it advanced trembling, not one had survived this encounter with the lust of the insane demon of Zemmiphobia(AN:see, I told you) before, their bodies burned beyond recognition. It advanced and lay before Nick who straddled the unfortunate Nink, and the screaming began.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Xiae tensed, for a second she had just felt something, a tugging feeling at her power but she shrugged the feeling off and her mind drifted as she rested in her room waiting for the dawn. Then with a soft sigh she fell asleep.  
###########################################################  
"Xiae, Vegeta follow me, Lord Khonsu wishes to see you" said the guard as he unlocked the cell door. "Any funny business and I have the Lord's permission to kill both of you insignificant monkeys" Xiae and Vegeta stood slowly as the guard then undid the chains from the wall and tugged on the metal collars each wore and they followed the guard to Khonsu. Both with their spirits near breaking point.  
The guard threw open the doors to the throne room and dragged the saiya-jin warriors into the throne room. Khonsu was sitting on his throne, swirling wine in a goblet. The ugly Azaghal-jin smiled as he saw the battered pair. "My poor, poor pets, why must you persist in disobeying me. I truly don't want to hurt you but you leave me no choice" Khonsu walked forward "Now be a good monkey or I will be forced to do this" The warlord seized Xiae's white tipped tail, held her up in the air and proceeded to punch her in the stomach, hundreds of times per second. Xiae gagged, bringing up blood, her mind a mist of red. Khonsu seeing this stopped and dropped her to the ground. The agony of this beating was almost beyond bearing, but she had suffered worse before, that was the only reason she kept her mind, as she lay gasping and choking on the floor a vision came to her. Xiae the seer, dreamer, bearer of a cursed gift , the saiya-jin with flaming hair and icy eyes.  
"Hail the warrioress, princess of a forgotten race, follower of a forgotten creed, carrier of a forgotten honour. Hail the warrior, prince of a forgotten race, carrier of a forgotten honour" a voice cried out of the darkness.  
In her hands a flaming sword, 'LightningTalon' Vegeta's hands hold 'ShadowFang' blood everywhere. Vegeta and herself -creating a portal, behind them screaming darkness is encroaching.  
Khonsu in his death struggle. Other faces, warriors' faces.  
An immensely obese demon, radiating power and a voice repeating over and over "Son of man cannot kill me, I live forever. ". Herself drenched in blood, Vegeta lying at her feet, more bodies lying around her. A girl, standing beside her, grim as she was. "No death at the hands of man, no death at the hands of man, no death at the hands of man" dying away into a whisper. A shadowed figure standing behind them, even stronger than the demon with a pair of red eyes glowing.  
A pair of teardrop shaped jewels one red, one so dark a blue as to be almost black,each with a small droplet of the other in the round end. Both of them covered in blood. Vegeta with silvery gold hair and cobalt eyes, herself with also silvery gold hair and cobalt eyes. A strange blue mark on the inside of her wrist Whirling dark expanses of dust and destruction. Powers beyond belief, despair beyond bearing, hope beyond all reason.   
Choking and retching Xiae came to her senses, only to see Vegeta be dumped on the floor beside her. She gave up and slid into the welcoming darkness.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
When she awoke she was inside a rejuvenator. I see far too much of the inside of these things she thought ruefully.  
Same here  
Vegeta, you are a sticky beak. Can't I even call my mind my own private property?   
No smirked Vegeta, It belongs to me, the Crown Prince of Vegeta-sei, as do you  
As if, the only one who owns my mind is ME and I will thank ye to keep out of it. Beyond the tanks the Rykal-jin medic noticed they were awake and started to walk over to them.  
Admit it, you like me inside your mind. You can't lie to me  
Fine, I do grudgingly admitted Xiae as the pale green synthetic saiya-jin DNA started to drain from the tank. The tank door opened and the rough hands of the guards attached the chain to her collar. Vegeta and Xiae didn't struggle. They had both learnt the futility of that long ago, the last thing they wanted was to be back inside the tank before they had even gotten out.   
"Lord Khonsu will be pleased to see you awake" said the head guard as he led them down the hall into the throne room once again. " I don't know why he bothers with you monkeys, there is no way you could ever be even halfway decent fighters, the weakest of us guards could take on ten of you monkeys, both arms tied. Besides the second strongest of your race is a female. And every one knows females can't fight, they're too soft. The only place they belong is on their backs" said Banzai, with a sneer, tossing his plaited green hair over his shoulder.  
Xiae's tail began to twitch behind her back, back and forth in short angry jerks. From deep in her throat came a low growl, like the ominous rumble of distant thunder. She hated the changeling favourite of Khonsue's. Vegeta's form mirrored hers as they gathered power. Black lightning flashed all around them. The guard was too sure of his superior strength to even take notice, then his scouter blew up. Vegeta phased to in front of the guard, but before the guard could do anything Xiae plunged her fist into the guard's back and pulled out his spinal column. The guard gasped as he died "This can't be happening, I can't be killed by a mere girl..."  
"Enjoy your trip, spineless coward, see you in Hell" spat Xiae, as she reached to her neck and snapped the collar in half. As she threw the pieces down her mind flared back to her vision. Vegeta, we must get our blades back   
Why?, Khonsu has them locked in his private quarters, it would be a suicide mission trying to get them  
Has that ever stopped us before?  
No, but why is it so important all of a sudden to get them back? queried Vegeta.  
This is why… replied Xiae as she showed him her vision. Our race is forgotten, our planet dead. None now know the 'Daystar' way of using the blade, it is forgotten.  
So you think what you saw will happen  
I don't THINK it will happen, I know it will  
Okay, don't blow your top at me Xiae replied to that with a look, Vegeta's face turned slightly blue. She looked very scary, even by saiya-jin standards.   
Ten minutes later…  
"Lord Khonsu! The saiya-jins have escaped! We found Captain Banzai, slain in the hall! And your private quarters sir, have been guttered."  
"Those ungrateful monkeys are going to PAY for this!!" Khonsu ranted and ran into the hall from his throne room. Khonsu was enraged, Banzai had been the third strongest being on the ship, the only one stronger than Banzai aside from Khonsu was the vampiress- Yrch, and the saiya-jins had slain the guard like he was nothing. The Khonsu relaxed, what had he to worry about, he was well over a thousand times stronger than Banzai in his final form and could destroy the saiya-jins without even trying,(or so he thought) but first he would have a little fun with them. "Summon Yrch" he ordered as he strode back in to the room  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Deep in the shadows Vegeta had never felt better, in his hand, tingling like wildfire was his sword- ShadowFang. He held the black bound grip with its saphire pommel stone and cross tree hilt, feeling the perfect balance of the lethally sharp blade. Double edged, strangely chased and patterned down to the perilous tip, keen as an icicle honed by midwinter gales, glowing softly a dark jade green. Xiae too, was feeling the power of her blade - LightningTalon, the only blade that could ever equal ShadowFang, its topaz pommel stone glowing with a deep flame at its heart. Its patterned surface catching the light, glowing with an eerie icy blue flame, the same colour as her eyes. The pair laughed silently at the incensed tyrant from the shadows of the throne room. He had made them more powerful, with his constant beatings. He had never realised that as a saiya-jin heals it gets stronger, nor had he realised that Xiae's telepathic powers, were now powerful enough to read a mind from a distance, rather than needing physical contact.  
Suddenly, through the door stalked the seductive vampiress Yrch, over 6 thousand years old she was the most powerful vampire in the universe. Her eyes as red as the blood she drank and long black hair tumbling down her back. Her face inscribed with a scar going from her cheek to the point of her chin, but still of a beauty that men would die for "My dear Yrch, be welcome. You are well I trust?"  
"Hungry"  
"Have a guard..." with that Khonsu strode over to a console and pressed a button. A guard came running in.  
"My Lo..." the rest of the guards words were cut off as the vampiress pounced, her beautiful face transformed in to that of a sharp fanged fiend. The guard stopped struggling very quickly. Khonsu stared at her, there were none to equal her in his harem.   
"Bored now" the raven haired beauty said, twirling around "this place is no fun"  
"What would you need to make it fun, sweetheart?" asked Khonsu, walking up to her and caressing her cheek. Yrch rubbed against his hand, and replied,  
"A challenge, too easy to make a kill here"  
"Do you remember my pets, Xiae and Vegeta?"  
"Yes, you promised me Vegeta and then that little bitch Xiae gave me this..." she pouted running her fingers over the scar on her face.  
"Well, they have escaped and if you wanted you could hunt them."  
"Fun..." she replied softly. "I hunt now"  
Xiae, on the count of three, phase to the door... Xiae nodded agreement to Vegeta's counsel1...2...3! When Xiae got to the door, she paused for an instant. Yrch's head was just starting to fall. Vegeta had swiftly cut off her head as he flashed by. Xiae smirked and flew after Vegeta.  
Stop, we must lower our power right down, Vegeta or they will catch us in no time   
True, they are looking for two very high powers. smirked the satisfied warrior.  
The warriors ran cat footed and sure through the shadows. In front of Vegeta, standing by his computer terminal, was a guard. Vegeta phased in front of him and sliced him in half with one swift blow of his sword. Xiae went up to the terminal and started typing. In a few seconds a large space pod was ready to take off. The escaping saiya-jins climbed swiftly into the pod and took off. Xiae looked out through the window; Khonsu was maddened beyond belief. Vegeta had never felt such power.  
Kuso!!! swore Vegeta Xiae don't look now but I think our friend out there has a little bit too much power.  
More than a little, he really wanted Yrch and now that she's dead he has decided nothing in this dimension should live either   
In the darkness outside Khonsu gathered power. "DIE!!!!!!!!" he shrieked and the universe began to crumble around him. Becoming nothing but dust and lightlessness.  
The saiya-jin warriors powered up. "Serket-nei" yelled the pair making a series of movements of their hands finishing with two fingers on their forehead. Before the pod a portal opened and they swiftly flew through. Behind them the portal closed...  
################################################################  
Xiae woke with a start, Now why the hell did I dream of that?? she asked herself.   
Good question. By the way ,the sun rises in an hour said Vegeta, who was sitting on a chair beside her bed, then he smirked nice pj's Xiae looked down at herself, boxers and a bra!  
Crap she groaned and threw a weak ki blast at him. Vegeta flung it back and madness reigned for a few minutes. Finally Vegeta sat down and Xiae got dressed behind a screen in the corner. Loose fitting black pants, a dark jade singlet top with her sign and the sign of the royal house of Vegeta-sei on the front in silver and black, and black combat boots. When she came out she sat behind Vegeta and started rubbing his shoulders. Vegeta made an appreciative sound and leant back I hope Chichi doesn't decide that we have to go to school again. You just can't say no to the woman, she's too scary, besides from having Kakarott to back up anything she says  
I know agreed Vegeta she is freaky!!!! And Kakarott is just twisted around her little finger   
The sun rose over the horizon. Xiae stood and walked out of her room and moved to the gravity chamber. Vegeta followed her, he was looking forward to seeing what the outcome of the match would be. She went in and turned the gravity to 100x and started warming up, Vegeta stood outside. He would be controlling the gravity. She smirked softly to herself as she felt the strain of the g force against her muscles. Prince Vegeta walked into the chamber "Ready to be beaten into a pulp?" he asked.  
"No, because I am not the one who is going to be taking a trip to the tank Your Royal Highness" she replied, a dusting of sugar over bile. She had never yet forgiven him for telling her she could not fight cause she was simply a girl, even if the statement was made when he thought she was human. "Oops I made a mistake just then, I called you royal, you keep loosing to a third class... hmmm does that make you fourth class then Vegetable Brains?"  
"Lets get going." Snapped the irate Prince. As she flung herself at him in a flying roundhouse kick, Vegeta ducked, straight into her other steel capped boot. He requited the favour with a punch to her stomach that made her retch.   
Her mouth filled with the sweet coppery taste of blood, from where her tongue had been nicked by one of her sharp canine teeth. Prince Vegeta smiled in satisfaction at the gagging warrioress and kicked at her unprotected stomach. Suddenly the cocky saiya-jin prince flew head over heels. Xiae caught his foot and used his own momentum against him . Now she retaliated with a flurry of kicks and punches, ending with a 'dragon strike' to his back that split his amour. Vegeta was surprised by the fury of her attack, he could barely block most of the blows. Ten minutes had passed and the dueling pair were beginning to struggle against the 2000x gravity. Prince Vegeta began to gain the upper hand, his age and experience aiding him immensely. He was kicking Xiae around the room like a soccer ball. Smashing a fist into Xiae's back and slamming his knee into her stomach, Prince Vegeta asked " Had enough little girl? Just say so and I'll let you off easy" as she fell to the floor.  
"Ptwah!" spat the now battered warrioress bringing up blood,dragging herself up, muscles protesting every movement , "I never, ever give up, haven't you learnt that by now?" flipping herself out of his reach. "Vixen Blaze" she whispered, holding her hands out in front of her, as if in prayer, or deadly warning .A small orb of darkly glowing crimson energy streamed from her extended hands. It stopped just in front of Prince Vegeta and suddenly grew much larger. Prince Vegeta, with a curse tried to block or knock the attack away, when he found that he had no power to fight the blast with. With a rush it raced forward and struck the prince in the face, knocking him back into the wall with titanic force. Xiae was pleased, the attack was even more effective than she had thought, draining her opponent's energy and then hitting them with their own power but it drained her power as well, it was not an attack to use lightly. Prince Vegeta did not move. He was out cold, with out a mark upon him Xiae picked him up and carried him to the tanks in the room just beyond the gravatron. She was a mass of cuts, bruises and weals and the room spun about her sickeningly. She walked out of the room and stood panting.  
Nice fight, he is going to be so pissed at you when he wakes up you know  
Yeah, but I think it's worth it. The high and mighty super saiya-jin four prince beaten by a 'mere' girl  
Well, you are not a mere normal pansy puff girl, you are a warrior, and besides, we have put up with far more than he ever did at the hands of Freeza. Compared to Khonsu, life with Freeza was just a trip through a field of daisies, by the way, you have blood on your face Vegeta reached forward and wiped it off.  
Thanks Vegeta Xiae smiled mischievously and her tail twitched slightly. Vegeta smirked back and grabbed the tip of her tail.   
Goku came into the room "Finished already? I wanted to watch, you could have at least waited for me guys" Vegeta jumped backwards.  
"Sorry Kakarott, Prince Vegeta didn't want to wait"   
"So, where is he?"  
"In the tank behind you"  
"No, seriously Xiae, where is he?"  
"As she said Kakarott, in the tank" Vegeta started to become annoyed, no one ever seemed to believe that Xiae could beat anyone, but she was one of the most merciless fighters he knew, apart from himself and Prince Vegeta. She was a saiya-jin for Kami's sake, a warrior, a fighter, not some little pansy puff girl, just because she did not spar with them that often did not mean she could not fight. She preferred shadow sparring and high gravity training. Xiae was only second to himself in cunning and craftiness and she ever was the more inventive with new attacks.  
He still couldn't understand how even Kakarott thought females cannot fight and how Chichi, Bulma and #18 all were always trying to get Xiae to behave more like one of those annoying pansies, interested in nothing but clothes, make up and her looks. The only ones who took Xiae at her fighting power were Piccolo and himself.  
Chichi walked into the room.  
"You two have to get ready for school. I have rung the principal and he is expecting both of you and Gohan nine o'clock sharp."  
Xiae and Vegeta looked at each other. They both wore identical expressions of loathing. How the hell the woman could organise school when they had only been in the dimension for only twelve hours was beyond them. Xiae and Vegeta both stalked out of the room in true arrogant saiya-jin style. Prince Vegeta stirred in the tank. His energy was restored.  
"Draining process initiated." Droned the monotone flat voice of the computer. Prince Vegeta stood up. "What the hell just happened?"  
"Xiae knocked you out Prince Vegeta." Snickered Goku. The saiya-jin prince said nothing, and veins started popping out all over the place. Bulma walked in and said, "I told you so" and walked out with a delighted smile on her face. She had bet her mate that Xiae would win. Prince Vegeta had disagreed totally and they had come to an arrangement, if he won, Bulma would spend the day doing whatever he said without one argument and if Xiae won the fight, he would have to spend the day dressed in a fluffy PINK rabbit suit.  
In her bathroom Xiae got into the shower, turned on the water and sighed as the hot water cleaned the cuts, blood and bruises. She looked at her stomach. It was a mess of mottled red, purple and blue, the rest of her body was even worse. It hurt, but she was no stranger to pain * Nice try Princey Boy, but I have had far worse, far far worse... but still I must improve my defense * she thought. Finishing, she stepped out and walked to the mirror. A pair of icy grey blue eyes met her vision. So much had happened since that day when Vegeta and she had escaped from Khonsu for the first time. She picked up a comb and began to comb her long hair. As she did she thought about her dream, it had been exact to the last detail, then it struck her, that tugging feeling was identical to the feeling she got from the demon in her vision. The next stage of what she had seen was coming to pass. She walked into her room and got dressed once more. Xiae, you finished yet? I need to talk to you.   
I'm finished, come in Xiae wasn't surprised that Vegeta wanted to talk. He had probably come to the same conclusion that she had, even if they weren't reading each others minds, they always knew pretty much what the other would think about a situation.  
Vegeta came in and sat behind her on her bed, my turn he said rubbing the sore muscles on her back and shoulders. Xiae relaxed and coiled her tail around his waist, she loved it when he did this. Is it just me or did you feel something strange last night?  
A sort of tugging feeling?  
Yes  
What do you think caused it?, that demon you saw in your vision?   
I think so  
Well, at least we have a little warning about him  
Yeah  
Vegeta smiled Have you seen Prince Veggie Head since he got out of the tank?  
No, why?  
He is wearing a pink rabbit suit... at this point Vegeta could no longer contain himself and burst out laughing. Xiae joined in. When the pair got their breath back Xiae asked Vegeta  
Did he and Bulma have a bet running?  
Yep, and boy is he mad  
Chichi walked in and started going mad at the pair, finishing with "Be ready to leave in ten minutes or else you won't get any food for a month and be kicked out of the gravity chamber" then stormed out again. Vegeta groaned and stood up.  
Come on, we had better eat something for breakfast  
Xiae saw something out of the corner of her eye and answered him aloud "Yes that would be good. I don't know though, what I really feel like is something cute and fuzzy, like rabbit"  
Vegeta saw the same thing as Xiae and answered loudly "Yes, I too feel like rabbit, do you want to go hunting?"  
"Would be good. Now I'm sure I saw one around here. Very big, like one of those 'teletubbie' rabbits"  
"But are you sure it would be nice to eat. It looked a little too cute to taste any good to me" It was all Prince Vegeta could do to stop from exploding into super saiya-jin on the spot. Xiae and Vegeta laughed to themselves as they walked past the irate Prince and into the galley, Bulma had already gotten the servobots to make their breakfast and they ate it at the speed that none but a saiya-jin could contend with. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Xiae and Vegeta sat in the back of the class -- bored. The science class was so far below their level that it was absurd. They had learnt about how molecular compounds are formed when they were eight, why else had Vegeta had the tutors in the palace, Xiae having been able to listen because she was the prince's sparring partner and strong enough to kill any who tried to eject her from the room. The pair got their work finished in the first 5 minutes and spent the rest of the hour mentally chatting, laughing at the pathetic ki's of the others in the class room and puzzling over the tugging on their own ki.  
Finally the bell went, and the class was over, Xiae and Vegeta went to the library, where Buffy said she would meet them.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Far below the earth, the immense demon, Nick was setting up the last of the ritual to send the Z gang's, Xiae's, Vegeta's, and Buffy's souls to the Master's dimension. Where the Mistress ruled, and was in her true form. Finally, he seized the closest Nink and tore open its throat, spilling the yellow-brown ichor on the black stone in the center of the circle of slowly burning human corpses. The slight breeze in the cave rose to a shrieking howl, while the stone glowed white hot in the unholy light. Higher and higher the wind rose, then suddenly it stopped. The silence was oppressive, heavy and subduing. With a crack, the rock split into 13 shards and then disintegrated.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
At Sunnydale Highschool. Vegeta and Xiae just entered the library when they found themselves trapped in a whirling vortex of orange-yellow energy and then they started to fade. Buffy was in the same situation. Their entire power was not enough to stop the mad whirlwind.  
In the clearing, the orange-yellow aura glowed around the Capsule Corp. Ship then it, like the others, disappeared.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Nick swore, the spell was only meant to send the spirit of the warriors, not their bodies too, He could only hope the Mistress was in a forgiving mood or he would be dead.  
  



	2. Old Enemies

Chapter Two -- Old Enemies.  
"Ouch, my head" groaned Vegeta as he stood up and looked around him, Xiae was slumped on the ground beside him, still unconscious. Beyond them he saw Buffy was lying on the ground some distance away. They were still in the library but not the library he had entered a few moments ago. There were holes in the roof and what few remaining books there were, were aflame. In the pit of his stomach he felt the familiar sinking sensation that came from crossing dimensions. * Kuso, what next???* He reached out with his senses, this place was full of high powered beings, each near his own ki level,I just had to ask didn't I? in the distance he could feel the ki of the other Vegeta, Kakarott, Gohan, Trunks and Goten, and even further in the distance another very familiar ki signal, one he had thought he had killed...  
On the ground Xiae groaned as she regained consciousness. She sat up and the look of intense concentration that came with sensing power passed over her face. Suddenly she tensed Masaka! Vegeta, you feel that??  
Hai  
But didn't we...  
I thought we had  
Well it looks as if we will have to do it again  
Lets go to the others, I think we will need the extra firepower.  
As you wish replied Xiae after some moments. She walked over and picked up the unconscious slayer.  
Nani???asked Vegeta with some confusion when Xiae picked Buffy up. Xiae was no Kakarott, as a whole she despised the entire human race, endangering herself by helping a human was a shock to the young saiya-jin prince.  
She has the potential to rival even third form super saiya-jin, besides she is the one from my vision, even if she is a lowly human, we need her.  
okaaaaay then...said Vegeta and Xiae slung Buffy over her shoulder, then they flew at top speed through the holes in the roof to where the others were, leaving a pair of white ki trails in the sky.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
A pair of blood red eyes glowed in the darkness "They have come at lassssssssssst..." hissed the icy chill voice that belonged to the red eyes "My time of revenge is near..."  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Vegeta and Xiae landed softly on the grass out side the ship, walked to the door and knocked, #18 opened the door after she checked the vidcom to see who it was. The warriors walked in, Prince Vegeta was no longer in the bunny suit, he had powered up too much and the suit had melted. 'You guys OK?' asked Goku.  
"We're fine, not so sure about Buffy though" replied Vegeta. Prince Vegeta looked incredulously at Xiae carrying Buffy * These humans must be getting to her * he thought to himself. Chichi busied herself getting Buffy into a tank   
"Subjects DNA aquired, estimated healing time three days" blipped the rejuvenation tank, when the entire ship went dark.  
You have three moons to prepare yourself to face first my minion and then my power, if you survive that long it is... the voice echoed throughout the minds of the surprised warriors ... Build up your strength, I do expect some sort of challenge...One last fight before you die...I have not forgotten what you did to me Xiae and Vegeta, you -- my pets, shall pay more than the others, it will be a long time before you finally receive death...a death that you shall beg for the chill voice laughed once and then spoke only to Xiae You remember the pain you suffered? Well what I will do will make that seem like a happy memory the presence laughed once more and was gone.   
"Who the hell was that?" asked Prince Vegeta, "and how did who ever it was know you two???"   
"Old enemy. Long story" replied Vegeta.  
"Well come on tell us, onegai?" begged Goku making a puppy dog face. Vegeta stared uneasily at Goku, moved as far away as he could from him and then began his tale  
"It started on Khonsu's ship, when we were both about 13, Khonsu had offered me to the ereshkigal, Yrch, as a slave, as we were becoming increasingly annoying for Khonsu to handle. Attacking him or his guards, not stopping until we were beaten unconscious, no matter what, we were 'punching bags' for the entire ship. We were a challenge for him, to see how long it would take to break us. He had hoped that by separating us he might be able to break our spirits a bit faster. Yrch accepted the offer and came to our cell to claim 'her property'..." Vegeta took a deep breath then continued, "She liked the look of me so much that she decided to make me an ereshkigal rather than keep me as a mere pleasure slave. She came into the cell and took hold of the chain attached to my collar and pulled me towards her... I couldn't resist, she had total control of my body, as at that time my mind was not yet strong enough to defend against such a mental attack  
She grabbed my head and buried her face into my neck. Xiae attacked her, turning super saiya-jin for the first time, her rage at Yrch was so great. Xiae's collar shattered and she managed to drive Yrch from the cell. Xiae slashed Yrch across the face with her blade and the ereshkigal left, swearing revenge  
She ordered the guards to seize us and take us to Khonsu, who then ordered Xiae's punishment. I do not know what the punishment was, Xiae has never told me what was done to her. All I know is when they brought her back a week later, they put her in the tank and she spent another week in there healing.  
From that time on Yrch found as many opportunities as she could to try and get us killed. She couldn't do it straight off as Khonsu had ordered that we were to be kept alive until he had broken us, besides we were useful. There were none so capable as us when it came to assaination. We became adept at avoiding traps and clumsy assassination attempts. Every time Khonsu sent us to a planet to kill the leader of that people, she would try yet again to kill us. Finally, as we escaped from Khonsu, I decapitated her."  
"If you decapitated her and what was left of her body was destroyed, what is she doing here?" asked Gohan in some puzzlement.  
"I don't know Gohan, she was over 6 000 years old, maybe she survived somehow. She was the worst type of ereshkigal not only did she drink your blood, but she stole your soul" replied Xiae "Maybe all those souls she stole gave her the ability to live and reattach her head"  
"Okay, I am not following here... ereshkigal??? What the hell is that???" Bulma looked more than slightly confused. Prince Vegeta quietly took his overly loud mate aside and explained that ereshkigal was the saiya-jin word for vampire, then glancing to see that no one was watching silenced her other questions with a kiss. The pair then walked back to the others, Goku was speaking "We must train, if this Yrch is as strong as Xiae and Vegeta say she is, then we need all the strength we can get."  
"I shotgun the gravity chamber!!!!" yelled Goten "Me and Trunks are first in!!!!" Bulma smiled slightly and pulled a box of capsules out of her pocket.  
"Four capsule houses and eight gravity chambers, should be enough ne?"  
"Hai Bulma" replied Gohan   
"I was thinking you, Xiae, Vegeta, Piccolo and Buffy when she gets out of the tank, could use these" said Bulma selecting one of the house capsules and two gravity chambers and handing them to Gohan.  
"Thanks Bulma."   
The four warriors walked out of the ship. Where the ship was there were many cliffs full of caves. The sun was just starting to set. Piccolo walked up to one of them and looked inside. "Gohan, this cave should be large enough for the capsule house. This way it won't be immediately obvious."  
"Hmmm" nodded Gohan  
"Very true Piccolo" called Xiae as she had been listening to him as well. "The gravity chambers though should remain in the open..."  
"Just in case we blow them up" continued Vegeta. Piccolo nodded and Gohan activated the capsule and threw it to the ground, a thick cloud formed and when it cleared a capsule house was standing there. The warriors walked into the building and looked around, the building had three bedrooms, a very very very large kitchen and a small lounge area. Xiae went into one of the rooms and put her capsulised clothes inside, she then moved into the kitchen and rummaged in the cupboards, while the guys put their stuff in their rooms, Gohan and Vegeta sharing a room. Xiae would share hers with Buffy when she came.  
Xiae came up with a pile of food capsules and popped them all open. There was a table in the centre of the kitchen about 2 metres square and the food piled up one metre high on the table. The three hungry saiya-jin dug in to the food and in a matter of minutes the food was gone and the trio sat back and wiped their faces and sighed contentedly.  
"Is there any more in there, Xiae?" asked Gohan  
"Plenty. The cupboard over there is full of capsules. I don't think we will be going hungry for a while" Piccolo in the meantime had taken over one of the rooms and sat in the air meditating over the bed.  
Xiae cleared up what was left of the food, that is the inedible parts like bones, by the simple exercise of incinerating them. When she had finished 'clearing up' she followed the guys into the lounge area where they were sitting. Xiae sat next to Vegeta, snuggling up to his side.  
"Xiae, you must tell us what that bitch whore did to you" asked Vegeta softly then added mentally please... I must know...   
" Yes, what did Yrch have done to you as punishment anyway Xiae?" asked Gohan, a mixture of concern and curiosity over his features. Piccolo concentrated on what the saiya-jin girl was about to say from in his room.   
Xiae thought, if there ever was a time to tell, it was now. She took a deep breath. Then she spoke in a flat monotone voice as if that would spare her some of the pain it caused to think about what happened. "Khonsu, after you were taken back to the cell, Vegeta, ordered me taken to the bowels of the ship, to a device he called a pain amplifier. To put it simply, once the device was attached to my spinal cord it amplified all sensations, the mere touch of a floating feather felt like the kiss of a burning brand. Then he called two of his strongest guards to beat me, they then slowly broke every bone in my tail..." Xiae's voice faltered into silence. Vegeta grasped Xiae's hand and she continued "The amplifier would not allow me the release of unconsciousness and the beatings continued, when one pair of guards tired, another pair would take their place" her voice was bitter with remembered pain and blood trickled from where she had bitten her lip. "The only thing that kept me sane was the need for revenge and my hatred for Yrch who would come and watch my punishment" and Ye also my prince, ye is mine and I don't want to leave ye Xiae fell into silence, her normally sparkling blue grey eyes dull and flat, almost lifeless, a single , fragile crystalline tear falling slowly down her face. Vegeta placed his arm around her slender waist, but she pulled away and walked slowly to her bedroom, her arms clasped about herself as if she was bitterly cold. Vegeta watched her go * I will make the whore pay for what she had done to you... I swear it * he promised himself silently.  
"How did you meet Xiae?" asked Gohan,* there seems to be no end to his questions today.* thought Vegeta, he wasn't surprised though, after all they had only known the Z warriors for about 6 months.  
"Her father was an elite soldier, she was seven when he brought her to the palace as a slave for the King due to her exotic appearance, a full blooded saiya-jin with copper hair and blue eyes. It was unheard of... when she was brought to the palace she showed no ki to speak of. Father ordered that she become my slave as he was fed up of loosing his strongest guards to me and his opinion was that a girl brat would be no loss if I killed her, and thought she would make a suitable diversion for me, rather than trying to kill his guards. Two weeks later he ordered that her power level be rechecked as he was amazed that she was still alive after sparring with me, after all I was stronger than any of the elite. Her power level was 19 500, only 200 below my own and 500 above the strongest of the elite. Father became worried. His power level was only 21 000. If we continued at the rate we were we would surpass him in less than a year. We became very close and used to create havoc in the palace," here Vegeta snickered " anything that we could wreak we did. Pissed my father off no end, but we spent most of our time training. By the time we were eight we had surpassed my father by 20 000. Then Khonsue came and ordered that we be handed over to him otherwise he would destroy our planet. Xiae and I went willingly enough with him. We wanted to see other planets and races. Khonsue broke his word, as soon as we were safely aboard the ship and in chains he blew up the planet. That's when Xiae's psychic powers first showed themselves. She felt the death thoughts of our entire race..."  
Vegeta looked uncomfortable after he had finished talking, as if he felt he had said too much, and so he stalked off to the other bedroom, changed into a pair of boxers and took possession of the top bunk and lay there until he fell asleep.  
Gohan followed some minutes later, had a shower and then went to sleep on the bottom bunk.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
In her room Xiae lay quietly on her bed, trying to calm her racing heart. In her mind all she could see were the leering faces of the guards as they beat her, beat her until the clothes dropped from her body, along with lumps of her flesh, all the while the agony increased until she didn't even know who she was, all there was in life was pain, leering guards and HER. The one she must kill or watch as the deed was done, all the time crying and begging for the pain to stop. Xiae recited softly to herself "Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little deaths that bring total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when the fear has gone there shall be nothing. Only I will remain" she felt calmness return slowly and she closed her eyes once more. That beating was like the litany she had read in the book Gohan had lent her, 'Dune', she had faced the beating, she had let it pass and once it had finished she remained, the same but changed... Xiae's breathing slowed and she was asleep.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
No!!! Tasukete!!!  
Vegeta sat up, from below him came a muffled thunk as Gohan did the same and hit his head. The echoes of the mental scream that had woken him were just fading. He leapt out of bed and saw as Piccolo flashed by the open door. "Stop don't go in there!"  
Piccolo stopped and turned to look at the chibi saiya-jin no ouji. "Why?, Xiae sounds like she's in trouble"  
"She is, but not the kind you could help her with, unless you can go into her mind. She had a nightmare" replied Vegeta "and if you went in there now she may turn on you, its best I just go. She would never hurt me"   
"Very well"  
Vegeta walked in to Xiae's room, and felt his heart almost break.  
Xiae was sitting in the middle of the bed, her knees brought up to her chin, rocking back and forth. Her eyes full of a terrible awareness, like that of a child survivor of a disaster, the terrible look of seeing ones own mortality, her normally pale face, now the colour of bone, the small scar standing out as if it were fresh "What happened?" asked Vegeta as he went up to her and sat on the bed beside her.   
She won't let me alone...I close my eyes and she is there laughing at me, laughing as she sees me beaten, begging for them to stop, laughing and I can do nothing but cry and beg for them to stop beating me...   
Shush, shush, its over now, she can't do that to you again comforted Vegeta, pulling her into his arms and stroking her cheek, hush now, sleep my sweetheart He started to growl, deep in his throat, almost a purr. Xiae began to feel drowsy and purred contentedly. Vegeta lay back and Xiae placed her head on his bare chest and listened to the comforting thrum of his heart beat, her tail coiled around his waist and his around hers, speaking more clearly than any words how much they trusted each other. Xiae held on to Vegeta as if her life depended on it, and spoke again that wasn't the only thing, I saw my death in this battle. Yrch drains my soul slowly before slowly killing the rest of you.  
Hush, hush, you will live and so shall we all. That was not a vision, if it was I would have felt it too, we share the second bond, my mind is yours and yours is mine, besides you forget yourself Xiae-chan, your heritage, your blood, blood of the most incredible race of warriors ever, Saiya-jin. Nothing can stop us, not even the powers that be Xiae smiled slightly, a terrible smile full of grim purpose, to match the same look that was spreading over Vegeta's face.  
Yes my prince, we will succeed, nothing, come hell or high water will stop us Xiae's eyes flashed with hatred in the dark, as she nodded At the end of the third moon, my prince, I swear by my honour and my lifes blood, I will not be the one who dies. Yrch's ashes will be scattered to the four winds and her soul trapped in eternal torment. The Xiae lay quietly for a few minutes longer and then fell asleep, wrapped in Vegeta's strong arms. *I love you...Xiae, my princess* he thought.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The next morning, two hours before dawn, Gohan and Piccolo were having breakfast, or in Piccolo's case a drink of water, and talking about the past nights events. Gohan shot a puzzled look at his sensei, "I don't know why Xiae screamed like that, but it had to be pretty severe for her to act that way"  
"I know what you mean, usually all the emotion we see from her is her going mad at Bulma's Vegeta and frustration when she fails to reach a new level when she trains,"  
"And what she feels for her Vegeta" interrupted Gohan  
"Yes at times, but I have never heard of any suffering like what she suffered" replied Piccolo "it was a moment of weakness for her, last night, and she has her pride, she always wants to show an impenetrable front, no matter how she feels. Come on Gohan, lets see if you remember anything about sparring or has all that book learning driven it out of your head"   
"Okay Piccolo-san."  
Piccolo grabbed a capsule gravity chamber and walked out of the house with Gohan. Once out side he noticed that he wasn't the only one with that idea. Vegeta and Goku were already inside one of the gravity chambers and hard at it. He hadn't been able to sense them though, Bulma's ki containment on the gravity chambers worked well. They could go up to 50 000x gravity and handle the power of a pair of dueling fourth form super saiya-jins. At the present time the saiya-jins and Piccolo himself could handle only about 1 500x, while poor little Krillin who could only handle 200x gravity.   
Piccolo popped the capsule and walked into the building. Gohan followed him, put on his weighted training clothing and started stretching. The tall Nameck-jin shed his heavy cloak and turban, and then stretched. "Computer 1 200x gravity now. Increase by ten every minute."   
"Acknowledged" The lights in the room brightened as the gravity in the room increased. Piccolo grinned and powered up, Gohan followed suit. The tall Namek-jin, once he was powered up flew at Gohan, flipping his legs around in a double roundhouse kick. Gohan dodged the kick, seized Piccolo's ankle with one hand and with the other swung a fist with all his might into the namek-jin's stomach. Piccolo reacted quickly, flipping out of Gohan's reach and firing a special beam cannon at Gohan's head. Gohan reacted quickly but not fast enough, the attack searing the side of his face. Now Piccolo had the advantage, with Gohan being half blinded. Piccolo attacked with a flurry of punches into Gohan's side, most of them, however were blocked by the young demi-saiya-jin warrior. Gohan swung around and grabbed Piccolo around the neck with his tail. Piccolo choked slightly but grabbed Gohan's legs and swung him into the wall. Gohan released and flipped away. He raised both his hands above his head, a ball of golden energy formed "Ma...sen...ko...yah!!!!!!!" the energy beam shot forward towards Piccolo. Piccolo crossed his arms in front of his body and took the attack. He was forced back to the wall of the gravity chamber, the ki starting to burn through the flesh on his arms *Kuso* thought the Namek-jin *he has grown much stronger since the last time I sparred with him*. With an almost roar, Piccolo powered up and pushed the beam away from himself. He flew at the young demi-saiya-jin and the two started trading punches, kicks and blasts once more.  
"Gravity 1 500x normal" droned the calm female voice of the computer, distracting Gohan for a vital fraction of a second. Piccolo's foot connected with his chin and the demi-saiya-jin fell stunned to the floor. Gohan got up slowly "I think we will call it quits for now, hai?"  
"Hai, Gohan. I'm impressed. I didn't think you would still be able to fight so well ." Gohan flashed a smile to his sensei and long time friend. Even after all these years, being praised by Piccolo still meant an incredible amount to him. Piccolo grinned back ever so slightly. "Now go get healed, you look like hell and I do not want that over protective dragon that is your mother on my back."  
"Sure, if she saw me looking like this she would probably try to kill you with that frying pan of hers, you know Piccolo you should get healed yourself, I don't know but somehow I don't think bones showing in your arms is very healthy"  
"Yeah, sure kid" said Piccolo, he could regenerate, but he was tired and the tank would provide a perfect way to both sleep and heal.  
The two warriors walked out of the gravity chamber and back to the house. Bulma had included a healing chamber in there.  



	3. Hell in front, the Abyss to the sides an...

Chapter Three -- Hell in front, the Abyss to the sides and the Angel of Death behind...  
Fifteen minutes later Xiae woke up and stood, slowly streching, every muscle in her body quivering. She shivered in the cold half light of the false dawn, the short nightie she was wearing was absolutely no help whatso ever, she could lay back down with her warm Vegeta but she was restless. She raised her ki slightly and walked over to the wardrobe, pulling out a fawn tank type top and a pair of black cargo pants. She looked back over at the bed, as Vegeta lay there, she felt her heart leap with some untamable emotion. She walked slowly into the shower, turned on the water, pulled off her nightie and climbed into the hot water. The water was relaxing and she sighed softly as she looked at the scars that crisscrossed her body, so many battles won, so many wounds, some of the scars were silvery white, old scars from old beatings, old pains, while others were newer, fiery red and stood out stark against her pale skin. Finally Xiae finished and climbed out. She dressed quickly, pulling on the top and pants. She walked into the main room again and knelt by the bed, staring into Vegeta's face *Kami, he is so handsome* and then snapped back to reality.  
Wake up! said Xiae as she unceremoniously tipped Vegeta off the bed. Time for me to whip you in a sparring match…remember?  
Vegeta sat up rubbing the base of his tail and glared daggers at Xiae The way I remember it I was going to kick you  
In your imagination maybe, but in real life, get real Vegeta. That has as much chance of happening as Kakkarot has of growing a brain  
No, in your imagination maybe, but as I am the all mighty Prince of the saiya-jins. There is no way you could even contemplate defeating me  
Yeah, yeah, whatever you say…Anyways, Piccolo and Gohan have finished sparring and are both in the regen tanks  
okay Vegeta stood up and walked across the room. They both knew that he was the stronger, but the verbal sparring before the match was just as fun as the fight itself, besides it wouldn't feel right without the ego boosting banter. A white aura formed around Vegeta as he concentrated. When it faded away he was dressed in loose fitting cargo pants and a deep blue tee-shirt.   
"Show off" muttered Xiae under her breath, Vegeta had learnt the technique off Piccolo and for all Xiae's efforts she could not master it. Xiae grabbed her sword from beside the bed and strapped it to her back, then picked up the five daggers she always carried and placed them in their various sheaths. One in each of her boots, one strapped to her thigh, one on the front of her swords scabbard, laying crosswise over her chest and the other strapped to her side. She pulled her hair back and tied it with a scrap of cloth, then she sat down and meditated while she waited for Vegeta.   
Vegeta walked into the room he should have spent the night in and grabbed his sword. He half drew the blade and felt the quivering raw energy course through his body. The razor edge of the blade glowed dimly a dark jade, the impossibly sharp edge tempered in his own blood, and the blood of Karesh. The kami of his planet before it was destroyed. Karesh had helped both Xiae and Vegeta forge their blades when he had found them wandering the palace. He had helped them enchant the blades, and then taught them the 'Daystar' way of the blade, Xiae had learnt more off him as well, the ways of magic and demons. Vegeta shook his head and resheathed the blade, he had no time for half forgotten memories. He strapped the blade on and walked back into Xiae's room. "Lets eat then train okay?"  
"Aye, my prince." Xiae stood and walked over to Vegeta, and then into the kitchen. She took out two capsules and popped them open. An immense array of food covered the table.  
The two ate with incredible speed, even for a saiya-jin. A person placing more food on the table would have lost an arm, but while Xiae ate with some degree of manners, using the chopsticks and eating with her mouth closed, Vegeta simply concentrated on shoveling as much food into his mouth as fast as he could. The results of this were not pretty. Finally when they finished the two sat back, Xiae took one look at Vegeta's face and giggled, his lips were still covered in food. She smirked, an evil grin stretching accross her face and leant forward, taking Vegeta's chin in her hand, guided it to her own and kissed him, hard. Vegeta kissed back, drawing his hands up and encircling her surprisingly slender shoulders. "Mmmmmm, nice, tasty" murmured Xiae softy as the two pulled apart for a second, before continuing the kiss.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`  
"Warning Gravity 2200x normal. Warning Gravity 2200x normal"   
Vegeta gritted his teeth and blasted across the room, sword drawn, they had been sparring for 10 hours straight and he was damned if he was going to give up now. Xiae waited, a teasing half smile playing across her face, knowing how much that could irritate the arrogant saiya-jin prince, but she was breathing hard, leaning against the wall of the gravity chamber, blood dripping from many small wounds. She was almost beaten, as much as she hated to admit it, Vegeta was the stronger warrior, but she wasn't going to let that stop her. She watched as Vegeta came towards her, forcing her aching muscles to obey as she dropped to the ground and skidded across the floor, away from his blow. Vegeta turned around and looked at Xiae, the gold fading from her bowed head. The time had come to end this.  
"Azure wrath" A burst of brilliant blue energy shot from Vegeta's other hand and flew toward Xiae. Xiae looked up to see the blast coming straight for her. *Now or never* she thought grimly and called on the last of her energy, holding out her hands.   
"Vixen Blaze" she whispered, more in her mind, than aloud. The blood red flaming ball of energy formed just as Vegeta's attack hit. The two powers collided and then Vegeta's attack was absorbed. Xiae slumped to the floor panting, and then looked up. She struggled slowly to her feet; this victory was going to be hers. She drew her sword, her muscles protesting every movement. Vegeta saw her draw her sword, and readied himself. The two flew at each other, sparks flying from the blades as they collided with force. Attack, parry, attack, parry, the two fought like a pair demonic gods aflame and at war in the after realm, sparks flying like fireworks. The blades swirling like whirlwind, a deadly dance where to misstep was death. Then Xiae stopped short, the tip of ShadowFang just pricking her breast bone.  
"I win Xiae, you're dead" said Vegeta, panting heavily, blood pouring down his face from a cut just above his eye.  
"But I would have taken ye with me Vegeta. Look down." Vegeta looked, the blade of LightningTalon lay across his stomach. One wrong move and he could have been disemboweled. "Double death and no losers, my prince"  
"Very well" replied Vegeta, putting up his blade and wincing slightly. " I knew you had improved Xiae but that was incredible"  
"I know I am." purred Xiae smugly, looking for all the world like the cat that had eaten the canary.  
"Modest aren't you?" chided Vegeta softly, pushing her off balance.  
"Not my fault, I got that from you" said Xiae as she pulled herself up...again. "Gravity off computer"  
"Acknowledged" Xiae and Vegeta breathed a sigh of relief as the gravity in the room decreased suddenly. They walked out of the training chamber slowly, feeling the deep muscle ache that comes from sparring or fighting all out. Vegeta's eyes followed Xiae, her clothes mere rags, barely concealing anything. What was left of her shirt was starting to giveway at the seams and her cargoes were all but a mini skirt, and Vegeta, being male could not but hope that her shirt would give way.   
I heard that! laughed Xiae, and no, the seams are not going to give... Vegeta looked sheepishly at Xiae, he had forgotten for a moment Xiae's telepathic powers were so strong. They walked towards the entrance of the cave, utterly drained, exausted, unaware of the eyes that watched from above.   
In an alcove above the cave, Khalad stood, loading his crossbow carefully, making sure not to prick himself on the drugged bolt. The Mistress would pay well to know that her instructions had been carried out the seer was out of action and if he was lucky he would have enough to purchase the favours of the temple whores or if the Mistress was especially pleased she would repay him with her own favours. Khalad raised the bow and took careful aim...and ever so gently squeezed the trigger. The bolt flew straight and true striking the seer in the shoulder. He had no wish to kill her, as the Mistress wanted to save that for herself, but to prevent the saiya-jin finding the gems of Amora this was the surest way, and if the seer went insane it was an added bonus. It was a shame that there was another standing with the seer in Khalad's opinion, otherwise he could have had some fun with her.   
Vegeta caught the saiya-jin warrioress as she fell, the drug acting immediately on her sparring weakened body. The bolt, it has barbs, don't try and pull it back Vegeta quickly pushed the bolt the rest of the way through Xiae's shoulder in accordance with her instructions, snapped off the barbed head and then withdrew the shaft. Xiae's eyes slowly closed and her body went limp.  
Xiae! Vegeta's silent call bounced back painfully, as if there was a mental wall between him and Xiae. He calmed his racing heart and listened, she was still breathing but was not responding in any way. Had she merely fainted or fallen into a coma he would have felt his words echo through her mind rather than this painful recoil. He lifted her up to his shoulder and raced into the house, in his hand he still held the head of the bolt. Whoever did that to Xiae would pay.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
"I've seen this poison before, Bulma" said Prince Vegeta, looking at the results of Bulma's tests on the crossbow bolt. Bulma was not the only one with brains, on board Freeza's ships Vegeta had been the most intelligent aside from Freeza himself. One of the many ways Vegeta had served the ugly tryant was to develop new weapons for those guards with insufficent power levels to use ki attacks. There was noone else around and so Vegeta spoke nicely to his mate. "Its called azash. It suspends the mind inside the body. The girl can see, feel and hear everything, but she can't get her body to respond"  
"Okay...is there an antidote?"  
"No, only time can clear the drug from her body" despite himself Vegeta felt a twinge of pity for the saiya-jin girl. He had been poisoned by the drug once and he knew what Xiae would be going through.  
"How long?"  
"Depends on her strength, I'd say month to a month and a half."  
"I suppose I had better tell Xiae's Vegeta now" Bulma walked out of the room to tell the other Vegeta the results. Prince Vegeta scowled as his blue haired human mate left the room, then he walked over to the results again.   
Bulma found Vegeta in the gravity chamber, training at 1600x gravity with her latest robots, or rather destroying them. Bulma was shocked, those robots could put up with super saiya-jin4 Vegeta and Goku and come through relatively unscathed, and Vegeta Nightfalcon, in super saiya-jin2 or what appeared to be super saiya-jin2 was splintering them in to piles of rubble and wires, but then he was also using his sword. Bulma walked to the door of the chamber and switched off the artificial gravity. "Vegeta?"  
"What do you want." snarled the enraged warrior as he destroyed another of the robots. Bulma gulped, not even her Vegeta's voice when she had first seen him on Namek or in the arguments she had with him on earth came close to the barely controlled rage and hatred that was in the young saiya-jin princes voice.  
"I've finished analysing the drug. Vegeta recognised it, called it azash. It has suspended Xiae's mind inside her body, she can feel, hear and see everything but she just cannot get her body to respond, it should wear off in about a month, month and a half." Vegeta nodded slightly and Bulma watched as the fire died out of the warriors eyes and his hair faded back to its normal black. He didn't say a word but walked past her and headed for the ship where Xiae lay in the infirmary.   
Vegeta walked through the door into the room where Xiae lay, connected up to an IV drip, her chest barely moving with her soft breathing. He sat down on the bed beside the poisoned saiya-jin girl and took her hand. Vegeta sat there a long time without saying anything, just stroking Xiae's hand, then he started to speak. He told Xiae about the drugs effects, how Buffy's training was going and his achievement of super saiya-jin2, when he had finished, he kissed her softly on the forehead and left.  
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"No no no Buffy, arm down! Otherwise your enemy will be able to do this" said Gohan as he caught Buffy off guard as they sparred, blasting her in the stomach so she was thrown back several feet. She had only come out of the tanks a few days ago, but was catching on quickly to the idea of ki and how to use it and her power level was increasing at a phenomenal rate. From her starting power level of 500 to 100 000 in four days. Both Gohan and Piccolo were training with the slayer and teaching her how to fight properly. Buffy landed in a handspring and flipped right way up again, blood trickling from one corner of her mouth.  
Piccolo watched from the sidelines as the young saiya-jin warrior suddenly found himself doubling over in pain as Buffy punched him in the kidneys with all her strength. Piccolo bit back a slight grin, the girl, who he had previously thought a weak fool, had natural talent. Gohan recovered and the pair were at it again. Buffy pulled back and drew her hands up to her chest in one swift movement. A fraction of a second later a powerful beam of purple ki streamed from her hands and hit Gohan squarely in the face. Buffy put all she had into the attack but it still wasn't enough, Gohan pushed the beam aside with a great amount of difficulty and phased behind Buffy, punching her squarely in the solar plexus as he passed. Buffy fell to the ground panting and her power level dropped, exhausted.  
"Hey, you are getting much better Buffy" said Gohan as he flew down ad helped her up, "You almost got me with that attack of yours, what is it called?"  
"It hasn't really got a name, it just came to me as we fought"  
"Well with a little practice that blast will be strong enough to almost take me out"  
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Vegeta jumped slightly, Xiae's hand had just tightened. He looked at her, she was quivering all over, he looked curiously at her, but his look was tinged with worry. The other Vegeta had told him this would happen as she came out from the drugs influence, but he had also warned his cross dimensional counterpart that there was a high possibility Xiae could die in the process and the fact that she was recovering only 10 days after she had been attacked was not comforting. This was due to the drugs highly toxic nature, the quicker the recovery, the higher the risks. Xiae's slender body contorted, back arched and hands clawing air, power level rising rapidly. Her breath came in pants, too slowly at times and at other times racing. Vegeta placed his hand on her neck and felt her pulse, he couldn't count the beats, they were going too fast, one continuous blur. Suddenly her power started to fall, rapidly along with her heart beat...  
"NO! You must fight it Xiae!" Vegeta unconsciously powered up, past super saiya-jin into super saiya-jin2 destroying the room around him, as it became clear to him what he must do, or die in the attempt. I break my soul into two pieces, this half I give for ye to keep Vegeta chanted the ancient ritual softly in his mind, bending down and biting the dying saiya-jin girl on the base of the neck, drawing blood. The blood tasted sweet in his mouth, and her scent even more so, a scent of cool clear water, lemon blossom and mint, he then forced his power, his life, his memories into Xiae's body through the bite. Her power level stopped falling. By my soul and my life's blood I claim ye... Xiae Nightstorm, daughter of Cabbagio and Cherry. By my power and my honour I claim ye, ye is mine now and always Vegeta let go of her neck. Xiae stirred, her eyes opening, her body healed by the power Vegeta had given her. She sat up swaying slightly, saying not a word. Her fingers ran softly over the bite mark on her neck, then she continued the ritual.   
I break my soul into two pieces, this half I give for ye to keep chanted the flame haired warrioress leaning close to Vegeta and suddenly sinking her teeth into his neck.By my soul and my life's blood I claim ye... Xiae's power and memories flowed into Vegeta and she inhaled deeply, her nostrils filled with his scent of woodsmoke, honey and cinnamon. Prince Vegeta Nightfalcon, son of King Vegeta and Maracuja. By my power and my honour I claim ye, ye is mine now and always Xiae released her hold on Vegeta, and drew the sheet around her as she stood up and disconnected the IV line. Vegeta leant forward slightly and kissed her softly on the lips, Xiae kissed back, a kiss that tasted of blood and power  
Where shall we hunt?  
There is a place not far from here, I've been hunting there over the past few days. replied Vegeta as he concentrated slightly and formed a white aura around Xiae, when it cleared, she was wearing a tight deep blue singlet top, tight fitting black cargo shorts and black leather lace up boots. Xiae smiled as she felt Vegeta's reaction to her clothes through the link they now shared. He concentrated once more and four sheathed and belted daggers appeared in his right hand, he passed two to Xiae, who strapped them to her thighs and smiled. She swayed slightly, her balance still not quite right.  
Lets go then  
Very well replied Vegeta slipping an arm around Xiae's waist and carrying her.  
I can fly myself you know...said Xiae hinted darkly.  
I know, but I want to, and besides youre still not strong enough to fly yourself  
Like hell I am not strong enough to fly myself!  
Vegeta smoothed a strand of hair away from Xiae's face as they flew over night dark woods Well I want to, and you will need your strength for later said Vegeta, a teasing note in his voice. Xiae said nothing in response but blushed instead.  
The two soon came to Vegeta's hunting ground, a large meadow bordered on two sides by cliffs and on one side by a deep stream. A large herd of deer grazed peacefully in the moonlight. Vegeta and Xiae crept up on the herd from down wind, making no sound as they moved stealthily through the dry grasses. They made their choice, a large buck in his prime, the leader of the herd and then struck, killing the beast by slitting its throat. The rest of the herd scattered, and the two saiya-jin retreated to the edge of the stream with their kill. Vegeta swiftly skinned and gutted the deer with the familiarity of long practice. He then cut a long strip of meat and offered it to Xiae in accordance with the ritual. She ate it slowly, savouring the taste of the bloody raw meat, then they started to eat in earnest, finishing the deer in a matter of minutes. Vegeta looked at Xiae, her arms, legs and face red with the deer's blood, Xiae stretched her arms behind her head and winced as the dried blood pulled at her skin. Time to wash... Xiae walked over to the edge of the stream coming? she questioned as she stripped off her clothes. Vegeta smirked evilly and followed.  
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read and review people, I need to know what you think so I can write more 


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